


The Marked Ones

by iwanttoslytherin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 16:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15778137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwanttoslytherin/pseuds/iwanttoslytherin
Summary: Though similar in brilliance and more, the way that Severus Snape and Hermione Granger grew into the people they became as they entered Hogwarts was quite different.





	The Marked Ones

Hermione Jean Granger was born on September 19th, 1979 at 3:10 in the morning to Roger and Jenny Granger. They were two dentists that had tried for several years to have a child and had been delighted when they finally met their first (and only child) in those early hours.

Almost immediately the infant had smiled up at her parents before yawning gently and trying to blink her eyes open; already curious to see everything around her. She had a head full of fuzzy dark brown hair and a sweet rounded face. They decided to call her Hermione, as they had rather ordinary names themselves. They had also decided they wanted their daughter to have a name that was imbued with the dignity and elegance they knew she would possess in her later years.

When they brought her home from the hospital they would take turns rocking her and feeding her. Her rosebud lips puckered as she dreamed night after night in peaceful surrender. Her parents mused gently over her crib night after night about her future aspirations.

“She’ll be a doctor,” Roger offered affectionately rubbing his daughter’s chubby cheek.

“No, she’ll be a judge,” Jenny had insisted, smiling widely and showcasing two fairly large front teeth.

“She’ll do great things,” they eventually both agreed before finally dragging themselves to bed, their minds full of the precious being in the nursery and how she would one day conquer the world.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Severus Tobias Snape was born on January 9th, 1960 to a screaming Eileen Prince in her marriage bed while Tobias Snape sat in the living room nursing a whiskey and trying his best to ignore his wife’s sounds of pain. When her cries were replaced with that of a wailing child he finally stumbled over to the bedroom, glancing around the doorframe at her slight frame slick with sweat. The bedsheets were bloodied around her and Tobias made a disgusted face before entering.

“Tobias look at him,” Eileen had said, her black hair sticking to her damp forehead as she held the shrieking baby in her fragile arms, unaware of the bloodbath in which she sat.  “We have a son.”

Tobias winced at the child’s continued wails, noticing with displeasure that the child’s face was bright red, and his bleating cries were like a nail in Tobias’ temple. He glanced down at the infant with disdain clearly written on his bold features.

“Won’t he shuddup?”

“I’m sure he will soon,” Eileen had insisted anxiously, trying to offer her small breast to the squealing child. He turned his head, refusing her and continuing to wail and writhe about.  Eileen gave her child a sympathetic look. “I just hope he doesn’t develop colic.”

“Chrissake,” Tobias spat angrily, already envisioning the sleepless nights he’d have to endure thanks to this little blighter. He hadn’t wanted this brat, but Eileen had done that gooey-eyed thing and begged him, enticing him with thoughts that he would have a son to carry on his family name. He supposed that was what had convinced him to go through with it. But now he looked down at the squirming mass of red-faced irritation and frowned.

“He’s a Snape all right,” Tobias had said with whiskey on his breath. “Look at the nose on him.”

The child was exceedingly pale, bald and with a larger-than-normal sized nose. He was also remarkably long. He was ugly, plain and simple. When he cried he threw his head back, his limbs tensing and shaking as he screamed at the top of his lungs. As if he already hated this new world and wanted nothing more than for it to go away.

“I think he’s perfect,” Eileen said, holding the crying baby tenderly to her chest and rocking him gently. “Shhh, calm down Severus.”

“Severus?”

“It was my grandfather’s name,” Eileen said with a wan smile, not noticing the wince in her husband’s face. “Severus Tobias Snape, what do you think of it?”

Eileen beamed up at her husband, noting the fraction of warmth on his features as he gazed down at the wriggling infant in her arms.

“S’fine,” Tobias replied before lumbering out of the room.  “Well done, luv.”

Eileen cooed down at her darling boy, her fingertips trailing every curve of her son’s face until his crying had lessened. He gave a mighty hiccup, his eyes squeezed tight.

“And you little man,” Eileen said playfully as she rocked him. “Welcome to the world, Severus.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being dentists, Roger and Jenny were very firm with the routine of proper dental care. And because of such Hermione grew up with a distinct appreciation for routine. Without it, the world would be chaos after all! From the ages of 6 until 10 she followed a very strict routine that she deviated only during weekends and summer holidays. Get up, get dressed, have breakfast, brush teeth, go to school, come home, do homework, have supper, read a bit, have a bath then bed.

It was a life that was comfortable for Hermione, easily navigated and infused with love. Her parents adored her and having no other siblings, she was the apple of their eyes. They wanted her to have the best of everything; it was a life of travelling all over, of trips to museums and art galleries. Her earliest winter memories were skiing in the Catskills and realizing she hated it. Her parents had always been much more athletic than she was but they never held that against her.

They were often concerned about their daughter’s lack of socialization at times and in a desperate bid to help her build other attachments; they bought her a small tuxedo kitten for her sixth birthday. The girl had taken to it right away – carrying her around and calling her Alice, after the main girl in the book she’d been reading. 

Alice loved Hermione, following her from room to room, laying at her feet as she slept, and curling in Hermione’s lap as the girl read. There was rarely a moment when Hermione was within the vicinity of her home that Alice wasn’t trailing closely behind.

It seemed the cat was a good influence for after her presence in the home Hermione also began to make attempts to be more social. She invited friends over to see her kitten; she accepted play dates and even attended the odd birthday party. Her parents would never classify her as outgoing or remarkably social, but she was finally to them; “normal.”

The ‘ _strange things’_ (as she referred to them in her mind ) began to happen to Hermione about the time she started in year four. Small things that she couldn’t help but keep secret because they seemed so bizarre in retrospect.

Like when she had been taking notes quite vigorously during one of her classes, her attention diverting for only a moment when she saw the girl ahead of her in the classroom nudge the pencil off her desk. Hermione knew she couldn’t reach it and yet on instinct she reached out her hand to catch it. The pencils seemed to stop its descent to the floor, floating in midair a mere second before clattering to the floor. Hermione had attributed this to a strange trick of the light.  

She had never really put much stock into it, and yet the episode never truly left her mind.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eileen had known immediately that Severus had the magical talents and gifts of which she was predisposed. And while he would never meet his grandparents (who had brutally cut her out after the hasty marriage of Tobias –Muggle- Snape) she still sent them a letter detailing his amazing talent along with a recent photograph of her darling boy each Christmas.

It wasn’t until his fourth birthday that Eileen had to admit that she needed to give him some magical education.

That afternoon Eileen had done what she could with the items in their modest kitchen and made a cake was a little lopsided and the icing a bit thin in areas. But she had managed some candles from the neighbors next door and she placed them lovingly in the cake for her darling boy.  Tobias had come home, drunk as usual, with a small rather beaten-looking teddy bear with a bow tied round its neck.

“Happy birthday, son,” he said blearily tossing the item to Severus at the table. The boy brought it up beside him on the chair, looking delightedly to his gift.

“What do you say, Severus?”

“Fank you, daddy.”

On days like this, Tobias was a pleasure to be around. Obviously he’d won some money at the pub playing darts. Those days he was delightful and loving and Eileen fell in love with him all over again.  

To her surprise he also produced a small rose from behind his back which he handed to her as if they were courting again. Eileen felt her cheeks flush with delight as he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. Eileen giggled coquettishly before taking the flower and putting it into a small makeshift vase.

“It’s beautiful,” she said to her husband, impulsively kissing his mouth. “Thank you darling.”

“Of course,” he replied with a rumbling voice. “A rose for my rose.”

Dinner was lovely and after supper Eileen had brought the cake over to Severus. He was holding his pathetic looking bear in his arms and smiling up at his mother as she placed the cake in front of him at the table. She loved to see him smile – it was such a rare occurrence. But when he did, she could see the small dimple by his left cheek.

“Go on then darling,” Eileen cooed to her shy son as she sat down at the table beside him. “Blow out the candles and make a wish.”

The light reflected in the boys dark eyes and he seemed to be thinking deeply.

“I can wish for anyfing?”

“Anything darling,” she smiled. Tobias sat at the far end of the table, reading his paper rudely as the boy pondered his next moves. It was several moments before Severus had blown out the candles and cast a shy smile at his mother over the remaining flickering candles.  

“Two left,” Tobias said with a cruel snicker over his newspaper. “Looks like the wish won’t be coming true then, eh boy?”

Tobias rarely referred to Severus by his given name, citing that it was an “ _airy fairy_ ” name. A name that his strange, antisocial son seemed to suit with his peering eyes and his quiet nature.  Instead Tobias referred to him as “boy”, something that felt more masculine in his eyes. Unless he was furious with him, in which case it was “Severus”.

Tobias noticed as the dark-eyed boy cast him a withering look over the remaining candles. Tobias felt his hand curling into the familiar shape of a fist.

“Something you wanna say, Severus?”

His voice was low and silken with a trace of danger. It was that voice that had seduced Eileen from the start, but it was now the voice that made her quiver with anxiety. She knew when his voice got quiet like this that only bad things would happen. Usually within the confines of their marital bed. But now she wondered if it may translate into a harsh punishment for her son.

Before the man could continue to challenge the open hatred on the boy’s face, all the lights in the entire house went off, surprising everyone around the table – including Severus himself.  He blinked rapidly, glancing around at their now darkened room.

“There must be a blackout,” Eileen said hurriedly cutting the cake before Tobias could offer a harsh word of criticism. “Do you mind checking if we have any candles left in the other room, luv?”

Tobias said nothing but his dark eyes surveyed the guilty look on Eileen’s face.  Eileen glanced over to Severus worriedly before pasting a false smile on her thin lips and looking back to Tobias.

“You better hope he doesn’t start in with that magic bollocks,” Tobias belched, looking angrily to his wife before struggling to a stand. “Last thing I need is _two_ of you playing about with that shit.”

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Hermione began to suspect something was different about her, she kept it to herself. She had always been a rather private person. She didn’t mind sharing the joys and challenges of her life with her parents and her small smattering of friends (very small if she were honest with herself). But this felt more personal, less like something she could share and more like a deep secret. Like she was _special_ in some way that she couldn’t quite name.  

She kept a record of the strange things that happened to her through the next several years. She wrote it in a purple spiral notebook and kept it wedged between her mattresses.  No one ever saw her with it – aside from Alice of course. But these episodes would play themselves over and over in her mind as she forced herself to fall asleep.

Like the time a girl several year ahead of her had tried to bully Hermione for her pocket money after school one day. Hermione had been grabbed and wrestled to the ground by the older bully harshly. She fought valiantly, her anger growing before she screamed loudly and the girl had been thrown off of her clear across the playground. No one else was around and it couldn’t be accounted for how a girl so much bigger had been thrown from Hermione at such a distance. But she did stay away from Hermione after that, so the younger girl counted it a blessing. She never spoke of it to anyone.

She had come to believe that there was something deeper at work here – she idly wondered if she had magic powers like Superman. But she could not fly, nor could she see through buildings. She decided that she was perhaps investing too much time in fantasy novels and switched over to biographies, hoping this would curb this strange fixation.

When Alice had been struck by a car coming home one afternoon in year five, Hermione had been the one to find her laying covered in blood by the side of the road outside their home. Hermione had screamed, falling to her knees and cradling the cat on her lap.

“Don’t die,” she begged the small, cold form of Alice. It was too late of course, the creature was already gone. But Hermione squared her shoulders, determination on her pale features.

 _If I have powers, if ever I was special or had any magic within me, let it work through me now. Bring back Alice to me_.

“ _Wake up_ ,” she urged quietly, her hand falling to the stomach of her pet. She held her hands over the chest of her cat, murmuring nonsense and leaking tears down her cheeks. Finally in a desperate she thought that perhaps it would only work if she placed her hands directly atop the cat’s heart. And so she lowered her shaking hands and could feel her cat’s ribs through the dense fur, waiting for a breath of life that never came.

When her mother walked out a short time later, surprised that her daughter hadn’t returned from school she had been horrified to see Hermione still at the side of the road, covered in Alice’s blood and rocking the creature back and forth sobbing quietly. 

That night after her bath she was freshly scrubbed, smelling of apricot and put to bed early with a kiss from her parents and the promise that tomorrow would be better. That entire night Hermione had lain awake, her eyes on the ceiling as she thought of her beloved Alice, buried in their front garden.

Why had she thought she possessed some otherworldly skills at all? She felt pathetic for indulging in this uncharacteristic whimsy.

It was in that moment that Hermione decided there was perhaps nothing special about her after all.

_________________________________________________

Summers between school were Severus’ favorite part of any year because summer is where he got to spend time with his new best friend Lily. It was also in summer when his school lessons were put aside and his mother showed him magic.  It was small spells really. She hadn’t wanted her young boy to learn anything _too_ dangerous, lest the ministry undertake an investigation. If that happened, any chance she had of keeping Severus’ talent from Tobias would be completely gone.

Tobias had never liked magic much. In fact up until the year before they decided to get pregnant, Tobias hadn’t known anything about her magical history at all. When she’d finally confided in him after a vigorous bout of lovemaking she hoped would soothe his irritation, he had been horrified; repulsed even. In a desperate bid to keep him (for whom else did she have?) she had sworn she’d never use magic again.  And until Severus had shown such early skill, she had kept her word.

But how was she to ignore her son’s innate talent? It had been obvious since he could walk that there was something unearthly about him. That strange aura that seemed to affect only those with magical ability. Something reflected back to him in her own beetle black eyes when she gazed at him.

 It was dangerous every time she took out her wand, but Severus would always be worth the risk.

As the years had gone on, despite his lack of knowledge of their magical forays, Tobias had grown worse in his drinking and his violence. Her left ear rang continually because of all the time he screamed into it. She had grown thinner than ever before and every morning she looked in the mirror she seemed to have aged a decade. Her face had gone from pale to sallow, her heavy brows suddenly more pronounced. She had never been a beauty, but these days she thought herself ghastly. Who could ever want her?

Severus was built much like her – lithe and long with eyes as beetle-black as her own. She wondered if this is why Tobias directed so much ire at the boy. With Tobias’ air of indifference and his hooked nose her son gave off an intimidating, if not striking air. He would never be a great beauty, but his mind was keen and his skills were many.  

 She would cry out on the occasions that Tobias’ ire was directed at Severus, trying to put herself between the boy and her husband during one of his drunken fighting matches which often left Severus with a bloodied nose – or on one horrible occasion, a broken arm. Doing this often resulted in the boy’s steady withdrawal into himself, into his cramped room with all his books.

“Why don’t you use your magic _against_ him?” Severus had asked her one afternoon as she placed concealing cream over the dark purple bruise under her left eye. “Turn him into a rat and squish him under your boot.”

“I can’t,” Eileen had replied simply, momentarily thrown at her son’s dark humor. “You know that’s against the rules. And its murder, son. I am not a murderer.”

“I think there should be different rules for people like him,” Severus had replied with a sneer. “He’s a full _Muggle_ after all.”

“Don’t you speak like that,” Eileen had chastised. “We’re all the same, Muggles and wizards and witches. We’re all human.”

“And my friend Lily,” Severus continued, ignoring his mother. Or perhaps so distraught he didn’t hear her comment. “Her sister is a _full Muggle_ and she’s beastly.”

“Different doesn’t mean _bad_ , Severus.”

“But look at what he _does_ to you,” the boy insisted grimly indicating to her eye. 

“He’s not all bad. And besides, look what I got in return,” Eileen said, ruffling the boy’s lank hair lovingly before he pulled out of reach. “Now, let’s go practice some levitation spells.”

The afternoon had gone by quickly as Severus was a quick study in all things – but especially spells. She commented off-hand that maybe one day he’d be making up his own. Or perhaps he could teach others with all this knowledge he was so quick to possess and digest.

“A teacher?” the boy had snorted quite disdainfully. “I’ll do more than _teach_ , Mother. I’m going to be an Auror. I’m going to receive the Order of Merlin First Class. I’m going to be rich and famous and when I am you and are I going to move into a big mansion away from here. I’m not going to be living in smelly old Spinner’s End when I’m older.”

Eileen said nothing about the slight against their home – she’d done the best she could. But inside her pride swelled as her son talked of the future. Imagine her son an Auror! Her mind had the vision of her son in the future, standing tall and being given the Order of Merlin First Class. Her eyes were wet with tears that were joyful. But what to tell Tobias? Would he believe she’d secured him a scholarship to a boarding school in Scotland?  It was the best excuse she could give.

The little money Tobias did earn often went to the drink instead of decent food and properly fitting clothes for her son. She often tried to make do with their old fabric, sewn (magically) to give the appearance of being new. But they were often too short or too baggy.

Severus never complained, never said much unless it was questioning his mother about magical properties. His desire to learn and practice overwhelmed all his thoughts. The only thing he talked about more than magic was the red-haired girl named Lily Evans.

“I’ve noticed you talk about Lily quite a bit,” Eileen had observed to the ten-year-old Severus one day over runny eggs.  “Do you care for her?”

She had noticed the way Severus dashed out the door on summer mornings, eager to spend the day with her since their friendship began the last year. There was rarely a summer day when the two of them weren’t stuck at the hip. She very rarely pressed her son for details because, of Lily; he was already incredibly private and strangely possessive.

“I do,” he said firmly without a trace of adolescent embarrassment. “I’m going to marry her when we’re older.”

Eileen looked surprised at this, shocked that her son would be thinking of something so fanciful. She smiled gently, trying not to let it slip over all her features.

“And if she wants to marry someone else?” Eileen teased, looking to the boy with her eyes dancing.

“She won’t,” Severus glared, his eyes flashing. “She’ll want to marry me. She’ll only want to be with me.  And I only want to be with her. It’s _fate_.”

He threw down his fork before stalking off to his bedroom, slamming the door loudly behind him at his mother’s ignorance of the plans. Eileen decided it was better if she didn’t bring up the subject of Lily and their ‘fated’ interwoven future ever again.

_________________________________________________

When Hermione’s Hogwarts letter had arrived there had been an air of confusion. Were they being mocked? Was Hermione’s intelligence being targeted by the other children? Many nights were spent re-reading the strange parchment before they decided to write it off as a tasteless joke.

It wasn’t until a woman named Minerva McGonagall showed up on their doorstep early one evening, smiling gently and introducing herself as a professor from Hogwarts that they allowed her passage into their modest home.

Over tea and scones from the shop around the corner, Hermione had sat abutted by her parents on the sofa and listened to the older woman across from her tell her everything about the school, expectations, the challenges, the unique opportunities presented to her.  Hermione had been intrigued but her parents remained suspicious.

“Is it rather common for, erm, _Muggles_ as you call them to have magic children?” Roger asked, taking a delicate sip of tea.

“Not very,” Minerva had said with a small shrug. “But many muggle-born children have gone onto do many wonderful things.”

“Will she be safe at this _Hogshead_?” Jenny asked worriedly.

“ _Hogwarts_ ,” Minerva corrected with a terse smile. “And yes, absolutely.”

Her parents had asked many questions while their daughter remained uncharacteristically silent. Her dark eyes taking in the severe looking woman in front of her.

“We’ll have to think about it,” Roger finally offered after two hours.  Jenny looked absolutely shattered and Hermione was still stoic, her eyes taking in her surroundings as if memorizing them. Minerva glanced at the girl and her curious eyes and smiled.

“Of course,” Minerva said with a short not. “I shall return next week at four pm for your decision.”

 Before she took her leave, Minerva handed the Granger’s an envelope containing his list of equipment, and, after telling the family exactly how to get to the Leaky Cauldron from their home, she added:

“However if you do decide for Miss Granger to continue her magical education before then, you must first buy her supplies from _Diagon Alley_ to ensure she’s ready for the start of the school year.  Fear not, they’re quite experienced with converting your money into our wizarding currency.”

“There’s an awful lot to remember,” Jenny said with a slight awed tone in her voice. “And so different from our way of life.”

“And yet you’ll find many similarities,” Minerva said graciously.  “Now, as Muggles, you won’t be able to get into _Diagon Alley_ yourself. Ask for Tom the barman at the _Leaky Cauldron._ The address is in with the supply list.”

Before Minerva went to leave she asked Hermione to join her for a small private talk. Roger and Jenny got the hint, going to the kitchen, trying not to spy on the conversation but pressing their ears to the pantry wall just the same.

“Now Miss Granger,” Minerva said in a very serious tone that matched her countenance. “This is a very big decision for a girl with no magical background. It may be hard work for you to catch up with students who have been studying this since their infancy.”

“I see,” Hermione said, her chin already rising as if accepting the silence challenge.

“And you may find it strange to be in such a world so unlike your own. So I want you to make sure that whatever decision you make is _yours_ alone. _Not_ your parents and most certainly not what you think _anyone else_ wants to hear. To accept this is a wonderful opportunity Hermione, but it is also a large and life altering decision. And it has to be your choice alone.”

With this she brought out a small book from her robes, no bigger than a matchbox. Hermione watched as the woman pointed her wand at the item in her palm, murmuring something Hermione didn’t understand. She was about to question the woman when the tome in her palm grew rapidly in size until it resembled a large version of her telephone directory in the kitchen

“Here,” Minerva said offering the book to the girl. Hermione gripped it with both hands, shocked at the heft of it. “Before you make any decision I want you to read this book. It gives you a history on the school, expectations and more. It’s a wonderful resource and from what I’ve heard you’re quite the reader.”

Hermione smiled up at the woman before glancing back at the book in her hands. “What a wonderful book,” Hermione said, already eager to throw it open and begin reading.

“We have thousands like it at the Hogwarts Library,” said Minerva looking down at the girl’s eager face.

“You’ve your own library? Full of _magic_ books?” Hermione asked gently, her face stuck in a pose of disbelief.

“Of course,” Minerva said. “What kind of school doesn’t have a library?”

The moment Minerva mentioned the extensive library within the castle; Hermione’s dark eyes had grown wide. And now as Minerva nodded her head politely, indicating that she was leaving.  Before she’d taken two steps Hermione had leapt up off the sofa completely and rushed over to her.

“I accept!”

_________________________________________________

On the morning that Severus would receive his admission into Hogwarts, he looked to the red-haired girl at his side on the grass. Even after two years he still found himself surprised at how easily they had fallen into the rhythm of friendship despite its rocky start. Most every summer day they spent by the polluted river, talking and devising the spells they would try once they got their wands. She had been nervous about acceptance into Hogwarts – she was Muggle-born after all.

“Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born?” she asked in a voice that sounded terribly anxious.  She always had questions and Severus was always delighted when he had the answer.

“No. It doesn’t make any difference,” he’d insisted.

When Severus’ letter from Hogwarts arrived that afternoon, he had shakily taken it to his bedroom and tried to keep the tears from spilling down his pale cheeks. It was finally here. His chance at escape. He walked out into the sitting room, holding up his letter proudly to his mother.

“Look what’s arrived!”

She cried and hugged him and promised that he would have robes by the time he started school. She had been saving the few sickles she got from the odd sewing job. Her son would have the future he deserved. Before she could question him more a flash of movement caught her eye out the grimy window and she visibly blanched.

“Oop, Daddy’s coming,” Eileen said, trying to keep her voice light and cheerful with belied the panic thrumming in her entire small frame. Over the years her bloom had faded, her shoulders more slumped, her eyes more fatigued. Even her voice had grown soft, like the whisper of dead leaves.  Her dark and tired eyes were growing fearful as she took in the striding figure of her husband approaching home an hour earlier than normal.

 “What’s this now?” Tobias said, his eyes taking in the scene before him as he entered. Severus stood at Eileen’s side with his letter, his dark eyes warily taking in the tall form of his father.  

“Severus has been accepted into that boarding school I told you about,” Eileen said with a tired but beaming smile at her son. “He’s received a full scholarship. He starts in two weeks. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Well well,” Tobias said with a cruel sneer as he dropped his canteen onto the table with a clang. “It’s about time you cut that manky hair of yours then, boy. It’s almost to your shoulders. You don’t want the other lads picking on you, do you?”

“I think it’s beautiful,” Eileen offered gently.

 “Beautiful my arse,” Tobias said with a choked sounding laugh. “It looks bloody disgraceful.”

“I’m _not_ cutting it.”

There was a small incline of the senior Snape’s head and he stared at the quietly defiant boy. Eileen’s eyes were wide in shock. Severus stood with his arms at his sides, still as a statue and his dark eyes on the dingy kitchen floor underneath their feet.

“What did ya just say?” Tobias’ voice was deadly soft.

“I said,” Severus said, raising his gaze from the dirty floor into the hideous face of Tobias. “I’m _not_ cutting it. I like it like this. I don’t want some smelly buzz cut like you.”

There was a hideous silence in which Tobias glanced over to Eileen who had a look of abject fear on her sunken features.  It wouldn’t matter what Severus had said that evening – Tobias was in the mood for a fight and Severus was his favorite target. And now this talking back? Her son’s fate had been sealed. 

 “No son of mine will talk to me like that,” Tobias threatened quietly, causing Severus’ to swallow thickly. Tobias stood slowly, removing his belt with a sinister snapping noise.

“You’re not going to hurt me,” Severus replied cooly. “Or Mother. Not anymore. Never again.”

Without warning Severus had rushed over to his mother, grasping the wand from her apron pocket and flourishing it in front of his father’s face.  Eileen was aghast, her hand shooting out from her side as she screamed.

“NO SEVERUS!”

Severus raised the wand and was greeted with the most delicious sight he’d ever witnessed in all his eleven years on earth. It was the sight of Tobias Snape, bully and monster, at the end of his wand. And the man looked scared. No, not scared – _terrified_. And with this realization came the heady rush of power that flowed through Severus’s entire form.

“That’s right,” Severus hissed in triumph. “One word, one spell and I can shatter you into a million pieces. I could have your entire body alight with fire. Or perhaps your entire head covered in scorpions, hmmm? What do you think, Father? What sort of death does a man who beats his wife and son deserve?”

“You’ll never do it,” Tobias said with a furious snarl. “You’re weak. Just like your mother. A _coward_.”

All at once Eileen felt it- the fury building with Severus’ slight frame. She viewed as his black eyes took on a crazed and slightly unhinged look. His uneven teeth clenched together in the front and she felt time stand still as her son made a slashing motion with the wand in the air.

“ _AVADA-!”_ Severus screamed, his eyes wild as his hand jabbed at the man’s throat. Eileen screamed, pushing Severus young frame to the ground and wrenching the wand from him before he could finish he spell.

“ARE YOU MAD?” she screamed, shaking the boy by his bony shoulders.  “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

All at once Severus burst into tears, realizing what could have happened should he have finished the spell.   The gravity of the situation was suddenly stark and he felt his entire frame collapse into his mother’s arms.

“When did you learn about dark curses?” she cried against his cheek.

“I’ve been studying them in secret for years,” the boy whimpered. “I stole the books from your room. You never read them.”

“The ones from my parents?” Eileen asked gently, her surprise evident.

“Yes.”

Tobias feebly stood staring after them during this exchange. Eileen with her arms around the boy’s narrow shoulders folded in despair, speaking about things that made no sense to him in his drunken state.

“You _have_ been playing about with that magic shit,” he said in a rough whisper. “I knew it. You’re monsters the both of you.”                                              

“No,” Severus said with a soft shake of his head, his face still buried in his mother’s shoulder. “ _You’re_ the monster here, Muggle. _You’re_ the coward.”

Without a word, Tobias went to the bedroom and slammed the door behind him. Eileen was murmuring into Severus ear, insisting that he calm down. The boy rubbed his eyes roughly before Tobias emerged from the bedroom with a suitcase.

“You promised,” was all he said to Eileen. With that, he’d removed the thin band around his ring finger and dropped it without remorse onto the kitchen floor where it rolled under the decrepit ice box. Eileen hadn’t even registered the actions before the man was out the door and out of her life forever.

“He’s gone,” Severus said with an awed tone in the silence. He looked over to his mother, expecting the same giddy joy to be over her features.

“Yes.”

Instead Eileen looked to Severus with a very wounded look in her eyes. And while she would never say it, Severus could read it clearly in her eyes – he had driven Tobias away. Severus had driven her husband, her hateful love, from the house.

And she would never forgive him for it.

___________________________________________________

Hermione read like mad the next few weeks – her eyes straining from the late nights up perusing _Hogwarts; a History. She ewanted_  so badly to be a Gryffindor- or a Ravenclaw. Both would be a wonderful opportunity – and the thought that she would be learning actual magic sometimes made her squeal aloud in her room.

By the time she arrived at platform 9 ¾  a few weeks later, the items from _Diagon Alley_ in the large trunk behind her, she could scarcely believe that she was actually going to board the magnificent train that squealed to her left.

The sight of children and parents made her second guess her decision to leave her parents back at the main part of Kings Cross Station.

“I want to do this on my own,” she had said proudly. “I need to.”

After much hugging and kissing and her promising that she would send mail every week, Hermione had finally (after help from another family who had a girl who was holding an owl in a cage) entered into her new magical life.

As she boarded the _Hogwarts Express_ she couldn’t help but smile at the strange noise and sights and sounds all around her. The animals that croaked and mewled and squeaked. The sight of children brandishing wands and dashing through the corridor. The smell of chocolate and candy as a woman pushing a trolly appeared behind her.

Despite how foreign everything was to her, Hermione couldn’t help but acknowledge that it all felt right. She _had_ been special, and she _had_ been fated for something more than her life in London. She drew over to an empty compartment, her eyes taking in the now moving landscape outside the windows.

It was onto a new adventure.

_________________________________________________

Eileen stood with Severus at the platform 9 ¾ and looked over at her son to see him trying to contain a small smile. Things had been strained between them the last few weeks since Tobias had left and it showed in the sullen fatigue that overtook her features. Yet they had gone to Diagon Alley and she had used all her remaining sickles to buy the boy some decent robes, supplies and even a nice looking quill for him to write to her.

“Remember to write often,” she reminded him, watching as Severus’ trunk was taken from him to be placed on the train. The boy was fairly bouncing with excitement, his dark eyes flashing even more when he viewed Lily getting onto the train. "Severus did you hear me?"

“Of course, Mother,” he said sheepishly. "I'll write every week."

“And be sure to be respectful to your teachers.”

“Yes.”

“And Severus?”

“Hmmm?”

“Be _good._ ”

She kissed his forehead quickly after this comment, shoving him gently towards the train and folding her arms in front of her. He nodded adroitly, understanding her meaning before his long legs carried him to the train as he climbed aboard. Before the train began to move he had rushed off to the lavatory with his satchel slung over his arm.

He pulled off his Muggle clothes, hurriedly changing into the second-hand robes his mother had procured for him. They were a bit big, but he’d grow into them. He looked at himself in the mirror of the cramped lavatory, a rare smile crossing his pale features.  He looked the part of a wizard now.

He rushed off to the compartment where Lily sat with their bags, looking out the window. She turned and smiled at Severus as he entered, about to say something when the whistle of the train started, indicating that they would be exiting.

His dark eyes automatically drew down to the lithe figure on the platform, looking to the train with a mixture of despair and relief before turning and leaving. And while the sight of his mother looking small and sorrowful on the platform of the station had hurt Severus deeply, he also knew that his heart could not stay with her. It belonged to the red-haired girl beside him, to the school that would shape his destiny, to the man he would become.

 It was onto a new adventure.

 


End file.
